William Howard LivensDSOMC (28 March 1889 – 1 February 1964[5][6]) was an engineer, a soldier in the British Army and an inventor particularly known for the design of chemical warfare and flame warfare weapons. Resourceful and clever, Livens’ successful creations were characterised by being very practical and easy to produce in large numbers. In an obituary, Sir Harold Hartley said "Livens combined great energy and enterprise with a flair for seeing simple solutions and inventive genius."[7]

Livens is best known for inventing the Livens Projector a simple mortar-like weapon that could throw large drums filled with inflammable or toxic chemicals. In World War I, the Livens Projector became the standard means of delivering gas attacks and it remained in the arsenal of the British army until the early years of the Second World War.[8]

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Livens' parents were Frederick Howard Livens (1854–1948) and Priscilla Abbott. They married on 9 October 1886 at the Upton Congregational Church. Frederick Howard Livens was Chief Engineer and later Chairman of Ruston and Hornsby in Lincoln.[6][9] Frederick and Priscilla had three children, William Howard and two younger daughters.

Simplified diagram showing typical layout of Livens Projector embedded in the ground at an angle of 45°, with gas drum loaded ready for firing. The thin electric leads run from the fuse in the base of the tube, up the inside of the tube and from the barrel mouth to an electric generator. When the generator plunger is depressed the electric current sparks the fuse in the base of the tube, which ignites the propellant charge and the expanding gas pressure launches the bomb out of the tube.

On 4 August 1914, on graduating from the Officer Training Corps, Livens applied for a commission in the Royal Engineers.[10] He was enrolled as a Second Lieutenant on 30 September 1914[12] and he was given a clerical post in the Motorcycle signalling section at Chatham.[11] Livens' experience of the OTC and his enthusiasm for target shooting prepared him well for at least some aspects of Army life:

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When he paraded for instruction in revolver shooting the sergeant in charge, not knowing his reputation as a shot, carefully explained to him how to load his weapon and take aim and the details of firing. The supposed tyro was then told to fire 10 rounds at the target and after each shot the sergeant kept repeating sympathetically: "Sorry, Sir, you're not yet on the target". After the 10 shots had been fired Livens mildly suggested a closer look at the target and all 10 shots had hit the inner bull![7]

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Army life did not suppress Livens' creativity and he turned his mind to the problem of making better weapons. On his own initiative,[9] he fitted out makeshift laboratories at his Chatham barracks bedroom and in the officers' garage. For a firing range he used vacant land near one of the old forts which overlooked the Thames estuary.[11] Here he worked on developing flame throwers and small mortars to throw oil and gas.[13]

Livens' inventive work was prompted by thoughts of revenge for perceived German atrocities. According to Simon Jones' book World War I Gas Warfare Tactics and Equipment, on learning of the sinking of the luxury liner RMS Lusitania in May 1915 with loss of 1,100 lives including, apparently, his wife, he vowed to kill an equal number of Germans. It was to this end that he began experimenting with gas and flame projectors of various types and continued in his work even after hearing that his wife had not, after all, been on board the Lusitania.[14] This account cannot be literally true because Livens did not get married until 1916.[nb 2]Charles Foulkes who became Livens' commanding officer and who later wrote Gas! The Story of the Special Brigade mentions "a strong personal feeling" connected with the sinking of the Lusitania without being more specific.[15] According to Who's Who in World War One by John Bourne, it was the first use of poison gas by the Germans at the Second Battle of Ypres on 22 April 1915 that prompted Livens' vengeful ambitions.[6] This alternative account is consistent with Livens' later statement that he began his experimental work at the end of April 1915.[13]

Late in August 1915, Livens left Chatham to join one of the newly formed Royal Engineer Special Gas Companies where he was one of very few officers to have a background in engineering rather than chemistry.[11] At the time, gas warfare was very primitive: heavy cylinders of poison gas were manhandled to the front trenches and their contents simply vented out through metal pipes relying on a breeze to carry the toxic cloud over the enemy trenches. But the wind could be fickle and change in its direction: the first British gas attack at Loos was a disaster. Livens developed the use of long rubber hoses to carry the gas to an optimum location for release and of a manifold that reduced the number of parapet pipes by connecting four cylinders to a single pipe, these improvements helped make the system more reliable.[16] Major-General Foulkes described him as a "go getter", but also as unfamiliar with military protocol;[17] Foulkes later recalled Livens' part in the preparation of a gas attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt:

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On one occasion he brushed aside all opposition at Victoria Station and filled a Pullman car with miles of rubber pipes and boxes of heavy gun-metal castings, and on reaching Boulogne he telegraphed the Quartermaster-General personally for the immediate supply of 20 lorries—which he got! "Who is the damned man Livens?" a furious voice asked me on the telephone; and when supplying the soft answer I could not help thinking that there was a lot more trouble to come.[18]

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Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector

Livens was soon put in charge of Z company, a special unit that was given the responsibility of developing a British version of the German flamethrower that had recently been deployed on the Western Front.[19] Four of Livens' massive fixed flame projector - the "Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector" - were to be used on 1 July 1916 at the start of the Battle of the Somme.[20] Constructed in underground chambers two were knocked out by German artillery before the offensive. The other two were effective in demoralising the German defenders.[21] Impressive as it was, the limited range and the immobility of the weapon severely limited its usefulness except in specific circumstances such as those seen in its use at the Somme, and the project was only used once more in 1917.[22] The remains of one of these projectors have been discovered and excavated in 2010.[23][24]

One day, during an attack on the Somme, Z company encountered a party of Germans who were well dug in. Grenades did not succeed in shifting them, so Livens threw in two five gallon oil drums; the burning oil was so effective that Livens' comrade, Harry Strange, wondered whether it would be better to use containers to carry flame to the enemy rather than relying on a complex flame thrower.[3][25] Reflecting on the incident, Livens and Strange considered how a really large shell filled with fuel might be thrown.[26] Although the key idea of throwing a large container of oil was due to Strange, it was Livens who went on to develop a large, but simple, mortar that could throw a three gallon drum of oil which would burst when it landed...

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...he did this by throwing it out of extemporised mortars which consisted of the ordinary steel containers in which his oil was received, other oil-drums of slightly less diameter and wrapped in sand-bags being employed as projectiles. The mortars were buried in the ground in rows, almost touching each other and with only the muzzles visible above the surface, and in this manner they were set in the required direction, while pieces of metal from any that happened to burst—of which there were quite a number!—were prevented from flying about. The drums were filled with oil and cotton-waste, and they were opened up and contents were lighted and scattered by charges of gun-cotton fixed to the surface and detonated through lengths of time fuse which were lighted by the flash from the black powder propellant charge."[27]

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Livens' new weapon was used for the first time on the morning of 23 July 1916: twenty oil projectors were fired just before an attack in the battle of the Somme at Pozières – the effect was limited. Next, thirty projectors were fired at the eastern corner of High Wood on 18 August with more encouraging results and another attack on 3 September was highly successful.[27]

Following these attacks, Livens came to the attention of General Gough who was impressed by his ideas and "wangled" everything that he needed.[28] The new weapon was developed into the Livens Projector which consisted of a simple tube closed by a hemisphere at one end. It was half buried in the ground at an angle of 45 degrees and pointing in the required direction. It was then loaded with a single shot with an amount of propellant calculated to effect the desired range. Preparing a battery of projectors for an attack required a lot of preparation, this was not a serious problem in the conditions of static trench warfare and the weapon was so simple and inexpensive that hundreds – and on occasions thousands – of projectors could be fired simultaneously catching the enemy by surprise. Z Company rapidly developed the Livens Projector, increasing its range from the original 200 yards (180 m), first to 350 yards (320 m) and they eventually produced an electrically triggered version with a range of 1,300 yards (1,200 m).[2]

The Livens Projector was modified to fire canisters of poison gas rather than oil. This system was tried in secret, at Thiepval in September 1916 and Beaumont-Hamel in November.[2] The Livens Projector was able to deliver a high concentration of gas a considerable distance and each canister delivered as much gas as several chemical warfare artillery shells.

The Livens Projector was used in a series of gas attacks during October 1916 and a number of officers took a close interest in the results. Livens had witnessed some projector firings from the vantage of an aircraft and in his report he estimated that "...if the projectors were used on a large scale the cost of killing Germans could be reduced to sixteen shillings each."[29] This report was sent to the Ministry of Munitions and Livens was returned to England soon afterwards to help develop a standard projector and drum. The Livens Projector became a preferred means by which the British Army delivered a chemical attack and its production was given a high priority, the total for the Allies of the Great War eventually exceeded 150,000 units.[2] Livens, "who was always full of ideas" gave up the command of Z company and became a liaison officer between Foulkes' Special Brigade and the Ministry of Munitions in which role he remained for the last two years of the war.[30]

Livens continued to improve his projector and to design other weapons for trench warfare, some of which were useful, others not.[9] For example, he experimented with attempts to cut barbed wire using large quantities of explosives. A witness to one trial described orange boxes filled with explosives and fired from a hole in the ground in the manner of a shell fougasse. This system failed because the explosives tended to detonate ineffectually in mid-air – a sight that was described as being: "A most impressive picture of the Day of Judgement".[1] A variation of the Livens Projector prototype was also tested with a view to cutting wire; Major-General Foulkes later recalled:

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After the shoot, as the spectators approached the target area to observe the effect that had been produced Livens noticed that one drum containing 100lb of ammonal had failed to explode, and he called out "Back everybody" as he led a hasty retreat. I think he considered this the highlight of his military career—the occasion when he barked out an order to an Army Commander (Gough) and was promptly obeyed![29]

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Livens' wire-cutting ideas, were characteristically simple but ultimately unsuccessful; but he was never put off if a weapon failed to come up to expectation.[9]

Livens' work was dangerous and he showed no lack of physical courage. On one occasion, while testing a service gas mask against Hydrogen sulfide (H2S); the gas penetrated almost immediately and Livens fell unconscious though he recovered quickly.[31] During the war, Livens was awarded the Military Cross on 14 January 1916[32] and the Distinguished Service Order on 1 January 1918.[33] There are no published citations for his decorations, this may be due to the sensitive nature of his work.

The following letter was found among the effects of Livens' daughter along with a huge amount of correspondence between Livens and the War Office. There is too much correspondence to upload on this page, but we also have the original plans for the Flammenthrower which were written in English & Russian. The following letter gives an insight into life in the trenches as Officers letters were not censored. Letter written by Livens' from the trenches September 15th 1915 To his sister Mary:

Sept. 15th 1915

P.S: I Shall post this when I am back at Depot, so you will know that I am safe. W.

My Dearest Mary

It has been ripping to get your letters, and I feel a pig for not to have answered, but as you know I have been very, very busy - I cannot answer them now because time has answered them for me. Betty is in England, her address is .. Kentish Town, London N.W. - She has come around to agreeing to marry me - or rather she did because she saw so little of me when I was over - only a rushed lunch and five wet unsatisfactory minutes on the quay at Folkestone - Poor child she could not even travel down by the same train with me, because she was not crossing, in any case I was sending off telegrams and urgent letters until the moment of getting out of the train at Folkestone. She 'repented'(unsure of word) immediately after writing to say she would and said she had been selfish - she is a dear and I really don't deserve her.

Have had no luck at all, I am in the Officers Mess, a rotten little dug out about 8ft x 5ft lit by a solitary candle and the people holding this part of the line have only just moved in, so it is 11p.m and I have had no real dinner, luckily I brought up the Malted Milk tablets, the Meat Lozenges and a little wine in a thermos - They have been very thankful to get anything - Many of them (Officers) have been on duty since 3a.m with little or no food - should be glad of more of both stores also bon bon chocolates for the kids in my billet, they are unobtainable here in the tiny villages- Some town is on fire, cannot tell whether in our lines or theirs, it is burning gaily.

4a.m. You would laugh if you could saw me - I am in the Dug-Out I live in - A tiny place only 6ft long 4 above 3 feet wide at the bottom it is only 3ft 6ins high and is just below the trench floor level - I share it with earwigs and beetles - I am in my greatcoat ( I have not undressed of course, and have no blankets up here, could not carry them) squatting on my waterproof sheet, there is just light enough to write, I have got my paper nicely sanded by some snipers' bullet striking the parados (fire trench) 7ft above my head, nobody worries, we shall get the beggar tomorrow, also the fellow who amuses himself sniping the officers all day, there is no risk, one is jolly careful not to put one's head above the parapet in the sniped parts - >There are little notices pinned up like concert announcements - 'Sniper here - very active 3a.m to 5.30a.m. 9a.m to 11a.m. 6.30 to 8p.m.'. An interesting note tells you a little further along. 'Unexploded 18lb shell (pipsqueak) in the parapet here!'

Have been throwing out earwigs systematically - Am just off to make some observations, take bearings etc. Will continue - Was sitting on the top of my dug out - There is a cook fire going a yard or two down. Got my neck full of grit thanks to three rounds of rapid sending down a few pounds of clay and half a sand bag, have crawled in a bit as the grit tickles.

12.30p.m. Have had breakfast and lunch (the 4th meal today) will be ready soon _ I have spent a very busy morning observing and seeing to preparations of one sort and another - Our gunners have been amusing themselves and annoying the Huns - I saw them systematically search a trench _ They were about 5 miles away but they plugged 7 six inch shells (59 Howitzer really) smack into that trench, it was magnificent - A Hun battery attempted to reply, the result was deafening - Our batteries replied by salvos over about two miles of Hun trenches and battery positions, they shut up damn quick.

We are now getting a bit of our own back - The Huns had machine guns in a house - They have not now, a battery of 'Heavies' (9.2 Howitzers, 'Mothers' as they are called on the line)paid it some very direct attention, that house vanished from the somewhat attomated landscape - Then there are 'Grandmothers' also - They do not exactly whisper, the 6ft Howitzer shells just whisper softly of death, but 'Mother' makes a noise like a railroad train and there a the deuce of a crash when the journey finishes _ 'Grandmother' and 'Great-Grandmother' Oh Well!

After the First World War, Livens, being of independent means, no longer had any incentive to produce new inventions and his life was relatively uneventful.[9] Just before the end of the First World War, Livens wrote a patent for an improved version of his projector[34] and in mid-June 1919, Livens and his father jointly wrote a patent for an improved projectile – the principal enhancement being the construction of strong but light-weight casing by using drawn manufacturing techniques.[35]

In 1920, Livens applied to the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors in respect of his wartime work on flamethrowers and the Livens Projector. He had to wait for a hearing, which was complicated by the fact that his old comrade Harry Strange also made a claim in connection with the invention. The hearing was delayed until 27 May 1922 by which time Livens had agreed that Strange should have a share of the "plunder" from any award that might be obtained.[36] The hearing was detailed and a number of witnesses were called including the recently retired General Gough[28] and Charles Howard Foulkes who was then a colonel.[37] Livens was awarded £500 for his work on flamethrowers and £4,500 for the Livens projector and its ammunition.[38] (A considerable sum: £5,000 in 1922 is equivalent to £238,000 in 2015.[39])

In 1924, Livens invented a small dishwasher suitable for use in a domestic setting. It had all the features of a modern dishwasher, including a front door for loading, a wire rack to hold crockery and a rotating sprayer.[40] According to family tradition, Livens built a prototype for the benefit of the family; but when it was tried out by their maidservant, she was later found in tears with water flooding across the floor. At that point the experiment was abandoned.

A demonstration of a flame fougasse somewhere in Britain. A car is surrounded in flames and a huge cloud of smoke. c1940.

At the outbreak of war, Livens was offered the RAF rank of Air Commodore. However, he did not enlist, preferring to make his contribution to the war effort as a civilian - in which role he was free to disagree with his seniors.[42]

Colonel Livens was the typical inventor. His equipment as one remembers it was an old club blazer with numerous pockets out of which explosives of all kinds, fuses, wire and gadgets would emerge and hey presto! the most surprising detonation would occur in disconcerting places.[43]

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The Petroleum Warfare Department experimented with several proposed systems, including a number suggested by Livens. These included a system resembling his projector to send "flaming comets" onto the landing beaches,[43] but the suggestion with the most promise was the flame fougasse and it was widely adopted.[44]

A flame fougasse comprised a 40 gallon light steel drum[nb 3] filled with petroleum mixture and a small, electrically detonated explosive as a propellant charge. The barrel was dug into the roadside with a substantial overburden and camouflaged. When the Ammonal-based propellant charge was detonated, it caused the barrel to rupture and shoot a flame 10 feet (3 m) wide and 30 yards (30 m) long.[45]

Tens of thousands of flame fougasse barrels were deployed. Almost all were removed before the end of the war, although, incredibly, a few were missed and their remains have lasted to the present day.[46]

The flame fougasse has remained in army field manuals as a battlefield expedient ever since.

Livens' wife, Elizabeth, died on 18 July 1945 after a long illness.[47]

Livens died at a London hospital on 1 February 1964. His remains were cremated at Golders Green on Saturday 8 February with the request that donations to Cancer Research should be made in place of flowers.[51] He was survived by his three daughters and left an estate with a value estimated at £82,561 (about £1,460,000 in 2015[39]).[9]

^A number of authors credit Livens with the rank of Major[2][3] or Colonel.[4] However, there is no evidence that he ever attained a rank higher than Captain. According to a family tradition, he was the youngest Staff Officer in the British Army and wore the appropriate collar tabs; because these were later only worn by Colonels and above, it seems possible that this distinction in uniform caused some confusion.

^A Time Team special television programme broadcast in 2011 about the Livens' lage gallery flame projector gave a similar account except that it was Livens' fiancée rather than wife who was lost.